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HISTORICAL MATERIALISM LONDON CONFERENCE 2104
STREAM: AFTERMATHS OF THE “OBSCURE DISASTER”CALL FOR PAPERS: AFTERMATHS OF THE “OBSCURE DISASTER” OR A QUARTER OF A CENTURY OF REAL CAPITALISM. REVISITING THE FALL OF “REAL SOCIALISM” IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE.
Eleventh Annual Historical Materialism London Conference – 6-9 November 2014 – Vernon Square, Central London

The years 2014 and 2015 mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Soviet Bloc happening between the first open parliamentary elections in Poland in June of 1989 and the destruction of the Berlin Wall in autumn of 1990. These dates delimit the end of what was called “real socialism” and the beginning of a ruthless neoliberal transformation. Alain Badiou, writing in 1991, called these events “an obscure disaster” and envisioned their profound consequences not only for the region, but also – or even primarily – for the so called West as such. After a quarter of a century, it is clear that the fall of the “socialist alternative” was far from being only a regional event and contributed to shaping of the contemporary capitalist world.

The stream at 2014 Historical Materialism conference aims at exploring this political, social and ideological legacy of the regime change that happened 25 years ago in Central and Eastern Europe. Its ambition is to construct such a critical, Marxist perspective on the historical development in the region that could effectively counter the mainstream liberal and conservative narratives of totalitarianism, Gulags, the fight for freedom, the triumph of market reforms etc.

We are looking for contributions addressing primarily the following issues:
– Reassessing achievements and failures of “really existing socialism”.
– Marxist theories of “real socialist states” and explications of their failure.
– The fall of “real socialism” as an event in the development of contemporary capitalist world-system.
– Marxist perspectives on de-industrialization, re-industrialization, privatization and transfer of property.
– Ideologies and discursive justifications of neoliberal transformation in Central and Eastern Europe.
– Class (re)formation in Central-Eastern Europe after 1989.
– New developments in Central-Eastern European Marxism.
– Left wing political movements and social struggles in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989.
– The place of Central and Eastern Europe in contemporary capitalism.
– Critical Marxist perspectives on the enlargement of the EU.
– The legacy of trade unions (with a special emphasis on Poland’s “Solidarity”).
– The Third Way and possible alternative histories of Central and Eastern Europe.
– Critical perspective on the rebirth of fascism and anti-Semitism in Central and Eastern Europe.

Apart from the ongoing possibility to submit outstanding after-conference research papers to Historical Materialism Journal, we plan to publish a separate issue of the journal Praktyka Teoretyczna/Theoretical Practice in 2015, dedicated solely to the aforementioned problems. The details about the journal and author’s guidelines could be found here: http://www.praktykateoretyczna.pl/english/